Not all Fresno County water board races – even the giant Westlands Water District – will be on the ballot. Here’s why

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There are dozens of Fresno County water board seats up for election this November but one of the most consequential won’t be on this, or any future ballots.

Westlands Water District is the largest agricultural water district in the United States. It covers more than 1,000 square miles in western Fresno and Kings Counties and provides water to 700 farms.

Because of increasing surface and groundwater restrictions, Westlands is also poised to become home to the largest  – 136,000 acres – solar installation in the country, substantially changing the use and tax base of a huge swath of Fresno County.

But, general voters do not get to vote on who the directors are that make decisions about how Westlands operates.

Why?

Well, this year the election was actually canceled as none of the four seats had a challenger. 

Incumbents Donald Ross Franson III, Jeremy Hughes and Justin Diener are unopposed and only one person, Charles Herrin Jr., filed for Ernie Costamagna’s seat. Costamagna, who took office in 2022, opted not to seek a second term.

But even in years when seats are hotly contested, as happened in 2022, general voters don’t have a say. 

That’s because Westlands was formed in the 1950s under a special Water Code designation that only allows landowners with water contracts in the district to vote on its board of directors.

And even then, not all landowners have an equal say, with some holding many more votes than others.

Westlands uses “weighted voting” so that landowners are given one vote per dollar’s worth of their land based on a “special benefits” assessment that the district created in 2017.

And that value is tied to water.

“If you’ve got 100 acres and it’s assessed at $1 an acre, then you get 100 votes,” explained Stephen Farmer, chief administration officer for Westlands. “One vote per dollar of assessed value.”

Westlands holds federal contracts for water from the Central Valley Project (CVP) and other sources.

To assess the value of property, Westlands hired an engineering firm that used delivery records from 2006-2016 to determine how much water came from CVP versus other water sources.

The firm found that the agency had delivered 68% of water to landowners from its CVP contract and 32% from other water sources. 

Not all parcels are eligible for CVP water, so those landowners were only assessed for the other-water, or non-CVP, benefit. Since all CVP parcels were automatically eligible for other-water sources, a CVP-parcel was assessed for both benefits. 

The assessment value was used to charge landowners for the district’s operations and maintenance costs plus debt service on certain bonds, a total of $17,208,522 at the time of the report. 

The engineering firm split the  $17.2 million between the two benefit categories using the 68/32 delivery split, then divided each dollar share by its eligible acreage for that benefit. Land eligible for CVP was valued as higher because the district’s dollar share for CVP delivery, 68 percent of the total, was spread across fewer eligible acres than the other-water share. 

Yes, that means landowners with more acreage and larger water contracts have more sway in elections. But they also pay bigger assessments.

 “That’s just the way it works,” Farmer said. “That’s the way the law was written. And that’s how our election is run.”

To avoid any perception of conflict, the district hires a third-party firm to issue, collect and count the ballots.

“No district employees ever touch a ballot,” Farmer said.

Though its elections aren’t on the county ballot, Westlands follows the same election rules as the county and the county certifies its results. In fact, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors must formally appoint the four new Westlands directors before the first Friday in December 2026.

Westlands’ nine-member board of directors serve staggered, four-year terms. 

The terms for Jeff Fortune, Jim Anderson, Frank Coelho Jr., William Bourdeau and Ryan Ferguson are up in 2028. 

Westlands directors may serve unlimited terms. 

Other Fresno County water board races that will be on the ballot this November include: 

• Laguna Irrigation District, Division 3 (shared with Kings County) — Incumbent Tony Thomas and challenger Reid Potter for one open seat.
• Malaga County Water District — incumbents Frank J. Cerrillo Jr., Salvador Cerrillo and Carlos Tovar and challenger Felipe Leal for three open seats.
• Pinedale County Water District — incumbents David Rodriguez, Bradly J. Peranick and  Christine P. Silva and challenger Ron Vega for three open seats.
• Riverdale Public Utility District — challengers Tristan R. Mauger, William Miller Jr., Tracy L. Morgan, Anthony Da Costa and Ranzy “Rowdy” Brooks Robinson Jr. for two open seats.

Races not on the ballot this November include:

• Alta Irrigation District, Division 1 — Incumbent Christopher “CJ” Myers is unopposed.
• Alta Irrigation District, Division 2 (shared with Tulare County) — Incumbent Jack Brandt is unopposed.
• Consolidated Irrigation District Division 1 — Incumbent Greg Thonesen is unopposed.
• Consolidated Irrigation District Division 4 (shared with Kings County) — Kirpal “Paul” S. Sihota is unopposed.
• Consolidated Irrigation District Division 5 (shared with Kings and Tulare Counties) — Tony Lewis is unopposed.
• Freewater County Water District — Incumbents Val “Phil” Viau, Kirk Brown and appointed to the vacant seat, Bradley Moglia, are unopposed.
• Fresno Irrigation District, Division 1 — Incumbent Jerry Prieto, Jr. is unopposed.
• Fresno Irrigation District, Division 3 — Incumbent Ryan Jacobsen is unopposed. 
• Fresno Irrigation District, Division 4 — Incumbent George Porter is unopposed. 

• Hills Valley Irrigation District  (shared with Tulare County) — Incumbent Marco Rinaldi is unopposed.
• Laguna Irrigation District, Division 1 (shared with Kings County) —  incumbent Monty Hoggard unopposed.

• Riverdale Irrigation District, Division 2  — Incumbent Leonard Acquistapace is unopposed.
• Riverdale Irrigation District, Division 3  — Incumbent John L. Mendes is unopposed. 
• Tranquillity Irrigation District — Incumbent George Ayerza Jr. is unopposed.
• Tranquillity Public Utility District — Incumbents Jo Ann R. Minnite and Michael Pucheu are unopposed.
• Pinedale Public Utility District — No candidates for one seat. Vacant.